Is this a Ride? - Day one - The Never Ending Journey

[LLKJDisney]

Cast:
Me – Kerry, 32, Love everything about Disney, driver and assistant chief planner
DH – Lee, 32, Chief Organiser, Loves everything about Florida and co-driver
DS – Jacob, 2 ½ , 2nd visit to Florida and the most important person on the trip!
DD – Dave (dad), old, First visit to Florida and not really sure what to expect
DD – Dick (lee’s dad), 57, Been to Florida a few times but looking forward to his first trip with his grandson
DM – Sue (lee’s mum), 55, All the same reasons as Dick, got to take it easy after her operation.

Night before ran to plan with Jacob in bed early and all packing complete to allow us time to relax before the 4.30am alarm call. The plan was get to Birmingham Airport for 6am, a full 3hrs before our flight. BHX is only 10 mins down the road for us so 4.30am was plenty early enough.

Jacob the night before, all packed and excited!


Watched the ‘Help for Heroes’ concert on the TV, went to bed around 10.30ish. My Dad was staying at our house and we were meeting Sue and Dick at the airport, so we were all set. Lee loaded the car the night before despite my fears the car would be stolen with our luggage in it (we live in one the quietest roads in the universe but I still worry).

Alarm went off Jacob wasn’t too keen at first but the mention of Mickey Mouse soon got him going. Lee had some cereal as he couldn’t wait till the airport. My Dad and I just had a cup of tea. My cousin Michelle arrived to take us to BHX around 5.30am.

Michelle dropped us off outside arrivals, Lee paid the £1 needed to enter the drop off zone. We slowly dragged our 2 cases, buggie and car seat to check in, which was already open. Normal security questions asked before reaching the desk which is when the first event occurred. Lee had been quite nervous that the cases were overweight, we were allowed 23kg per person. My Dads was 13kg so he was fine (he only took a small case). Sue and Dick were well with in the limit. I put my 1st case on and it was 26kg! The 2nd went on and that was 25kg. Now I had anticipated this and packed a spare holdall inside the suitcase. I knew we were allowed 3 x 23kg as Jacob received the full allowance but thought I could get away with only 2 bags on the outward journey. A quick reshuffle and throwing things in the spare holdall and we were good to go. Probably the first time Lee had sweated at 6.30am in the morning.

We decided to grab some breakfast before going through to departures. We decided on Wetherspoons. I had the continental (2 x Croissants and Tea), Lee had the full English, Jacob had toast, Sue just had tea and toast, Dad and Dick had the full English with coffee. Did the job but had we known what was coming we probably wouldn’t have bothered.

Getting through security seemed to take ages and to be honest wasn’t very well organised. Once through Sue went to buy cigarettes, I changed Jacob’s nappy as I knew that changing him on the plane wasn’t going to be easy. My Dad and Lee went to get sweets, drinks and magazines. It was now 8am and the flight was showing as on time so we went to the gate where we were almost immediately let on the plane.

Got settled and we were hopeful of an on time take off as our connection in New York was probably as tight as could be. (Due to land in New York at Midday and Flight to MCO @ 1.30pm). We took off at 9.22am which meant we were sat on the plane for almost 1 hour. Dick managed to chip his tooth on a chocolate éclair even before take off!

First time any of us had flown Continental and 1st impressions were ok but not blown away. The staff were very efficient but none of them were very happy. Continentals in flight entertainment was excellent. Their on demand system had 40 films to choose from. Including newish releases such as Karate Kid, The A-Team & Robin Hood. Also had some older films such Enemy of the State & The Shawshank Redemption. The TV programmes were also good with plenty of CSI and House episodes available. For the children there was Bunnytown or Handy Manny, this was ok for us as Jacob liked them both, but I thought there could have been more on offer. There was also 16 games available including Freecell, Battleships, Poker and Hangman.



We had only been in the air an hour when the crew bought round lunch, it was only 10.15am! and we were being offered Chicken with a Cheese filling with Salad & a bread roll. Pot Roast was also available.

Kids Meal - Spag Bol, Salad, Milk, Grapes, Strawberries, Maltesers and a Bread roll.



This was the adult meal.

Although it was early all of us managed to eat something if not all of the early dinner. I think they could have waited at least another hour but it wasn’t a problem.

The rest of the flight was smooth and uneventful, with Jacob sleeping a couple of hours and then watching TV and playing with his toys. Lee did change his nappy a couple of times and he enjoyed exploring the plane.

The crew were constantly bringing round drinks especially water and there was always someone around. With around 1hr ½ left a snack was given out, it was a turkey and Cheese roll for the adults and a Beef Roll with Applesauce, a Kit Kat and Milk for the children. Dick ate Jake’s roll (despite his tooth).

A male member of the crew (who we hadn’t seen all journey) then gave Jacob some pilots wings which he loved. Thought this was a very nice touch and it made Jacobs day!

Our landing into Newark was very smooth and I would go as far to say it was the best I had ever experienced.

Here is where the fun starts (believe me it was not fun at the time). We land in Newark at 12.20pm local time, so only 20 mins behind schedule. We collected our bags and cleared immigration in no time at all. On our way to the terminal, Lee tried to make everyone get the air train over to Terminal A when we needed Terminal C and he is the map reader!

Security was really slow and it was taking an age to get individuals through. We had to get to gate 136 which didn’t look to be close. We got to security at 12.50pm and didn’t get through till 1.20pm. With our next flight at 1.30pm the race was on to get to the gate. If you picture the scene from Home Alone where they are trying to get their flight to Paris, that will give you a good idea of what it was like. We got to the gate (which was the furthest one away from security) at 1.25pm, where we joined a queue of around 10 other passengers being told the flight was closed. L We were told to go to customer services, so we could be booked on the next available flight. We knew there were at least 4 later flights but didn’t fancy waiting around too long as we had another 2 ½ hr flight to MCO. We queued for another 20 mins at customer services and watched other people be re-booked on the next flight at 2.30pm which was boarding, so that would be great. We were then told by the agent that we were on the next flight but then when she went to book us into seats on the plane there were none left L we were gutted. Even more so when we were told the next available seats were on the 6pm flight, which would mean touching down at MCO at around 8.30pm. We were given a $12 food voucher each which wasn’t too bad but didn’t do much to lift the spirits of the group.

We trudged away from the desk and tried to put a positive outlook on the situation by saying it was only 4 hrs later than planned. In truth we didn’t really have a chance of making the connection with our large party and distance to the gate. I would definitely recommend that anyone who has connecting flights to give yourself 2 ½ hours in between flights.

We found some seats in the food court and browsed around Newark airport knowing that we would not boarding for at least 3 hours. Sue went for a cigarette, I took Jacob to see the planes and get some pictures of the New York skyline, which are a great view from Newark airport.
Not a great photo from my camera, sorry.



As I was coming out of the restrooms i noticed this guy walk past me


At around 3.30pm we decided to make use of our vouchers and grab something to eat as we knew it would probably be a while before we ate again. Lee, Sue & Dad had an Angus burger which they all said was nice. Dick had 2 slices of Pizza (they were huge). Jacob also has a slice but probably only ate ¼ of it. I grabbed a Bagel and a Muffin for the journey as I was not too hungry. After eating we took the short walk to the gate. We looked at our boarding passes and noticed that we were all sat separately and that Jacob was sat on his own! He is only 2 years old, I don’t think he could sit on his own! I spoke to the staff at the gate and they quickly changed things around so we were all sitting together. There was no real problem and it was quickly resolved.

We began boarding the plane at 5.30pm and were hopeful of a smooth flight. My Dad then noticed some lightning in the distance and the rain began to fall quite heavily. At around 6.10pm the captain made an announcement that the whole airport had been shut down due to a storm. Everybody’s face dropped. The rain got heavier and heavier and the thunder and lightning got worse. We sat on the plane for what seemed like an age. Finally at 8.10pm ( 2hours later) we began to push back. Jacob was by now shattered and did not want to put his seatbelt on. We sat there for a bit longer and the captain came on and said that we were number 17 in the queue and would take off shortly. I looked out the window there were planes everywhere. Jacob became hysterical and nothing we could do could calm him down, Lee had to hold him in his seat until we eventually took off at 8.45pm. A kind lady offered us some candy for Jacob but that didn’t work, thankfully he calmed down and fell asleep within 10 mins of take off. The flight was fine and only took just over 2 hours and we arrived at MCO at 10.55pm (which meant it was 4am English time). We were all shattered, no security or immigration to go through so straight off to find our luggage, which did go on the 1.30pm flight. Thankfully it was there waiting for us next to the carousal. Next stop was Dollar for the Car. As expected at 11.30 at night there was no queue. We were served by an assistant called ‘SNAP’ who was very efficient and could sense we were in no mood for upgrades or any other spiel. He directed us to the garage and told us to take our pick of the 7 seater mini vans that were left. I chose a nice green dodge caravan. Lee wanted a red one but was to tired to argue with me. The journey to Sunset Lakes was smooth and we followed the directions given to us by our Villa owner. We passed through the tolls and were soon onto the 192 and despite travelling for 24 hours, I still felt warm inside and had butterflies. Only Florida can do this to me. We dropped in at Walgreens to get some Milk as some were desperate for a cup of tea before bed.

Arrived at Villa at 12.45am, had a bit of trouble with the access code mainly down to fatigue I think. Made a cup of tea and managed to drag the cases to the bedrooms before flopping into bed at around 1.30am, just 26 hours after getting out of bed at home.

Our home for the next 14 nights!


Even though the journey took this long, I still couldn’t go straight to sleep as I was too excited.

If you are still with me – thank you!
Don’t worry not all the reports will be this long!

[pudge]

Gosh your travel day sounds similar to mine in March...tho we landed in Atlanta late for our 4.30 flight and were booked on the next available at 9.30pm!

BTW loving Jacobs trolley case!

[macdonald88]

O me we were the same the last time we went via newark, the flights was late and we were running to our gate with 10 mins too spare and it was delayed for 2hrs! Glad you eventually got there it will all be worth it now, have a great holiday and i'm looking forward to hearing more!

[newstewart]

Not the best start - but it must get better.

We were at newark on 16th sept but just missed the rain, was that your departure date

[LLKJDisney]

Originally Posted by newstewart

Not the best start - but it must get better.

We were at newark on 16th sept but just missed the rain, was that your departure date

See more...

Our departure date was the 13th September, nightmare!

[FLAFantastic]

What a journey! But looking forward to reading more!

AnnMarie

[Helen0705]

What a long day for all of you !
Jacob looked so cute in his PJ's the night before you left .

[JoJoBell]

What a long day, glad you got there eventually.

Jacob is such a cutie !

[Disney_Diva]

Wow what an eventful travel day!
Cant wait to read more xx

[Wills]

Blimey what a long eventful travel day for you all. Looking forward to reading more